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Don't vote? Pay a fine (if this bill passes)

Declining to exercise your right to vote would cost you money if a long-shot bill at the state Capitol is approved. Eligible voters who don't cast a ballot would be hit with a $10 fine under the bill, which was sponsored earlier this month by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, D-Manhattan.

Don't vote? Pay a fine (if this bill passes)

ALBANY -- Declining to exercise your right to vote would cost you money if a long-shot bill at the state Capitol is approved.
Eligible voters who don't cast a ballot would be hit with a $10 fine under the bill.
Jon Campbell / Albany Bureau

The bill was inspired in part by Australia's voting system, where non-voters face a minimum fine that equates to about $15 U.S.

It doesn't appear to have much of a future in New York, however.

Senate Elections Committee chair Fred Akshar, R-Colesville, Broome County, has voiced his opposition to the proposal, and Glick has acknowledged there is opposition on both the right and left.

"We all want to increase voter participation and turnout, but there are plenty of other ways to do this without turning our citizens into criminals if they miss an election," Akshar said in a statement.

The bill does not yet have a Senate sponsor.

In a series of tweets, Glick said she was "happy to have generated real conversation about Voting - a right AND A Responsibility."

"Shocked by some Horrified by $10 fine THAT CAN BE AVOIDED BY VOTING," Glick wrote Saturday. "Support making it Easier - but 1/2 of registered don't vote."